Artificial Sweeteners: A Century of Denial

Join next week's virtual conversation about profit, politics, and a 100-year regulatory breakdown

A Virtual Conversation
Monday, September 15 | 7 pm EDT | Zoom

Next Monday, I will be the featured guest of Science Writers in New York for a live virtual conversation about the century-long saga of artificial sweeteners — a story of profit, politics, and regulatory failure that continues to put our health at risk.

I will be speaking with SWINY chair David Levine about the FDA’s miserable record of yielding to industry pressure — first with saccharin, then aspartame, and now erythritol, the latest in a long line of substitutes with proven or potential health risks. Consumers worldwide have unknowingly become unconsented participants in a decades-long health experiment.

Some of what we’ll cover

• The strange history of saccharin, discovered in 1879 and Monsanto’s first product.

• How aspartame, linked to brain tumors in early studies, still won FDA approval in 1981 and quickly became the base of Diet Coke.

• The corporate push to clear saccharin’s name by pouring millions into “safe” studies — and how the FDA eventually lifted its cancer warning.

• The latest disturbing findings about erythritol, brain cell damage, and why the old playbook of corporate denial and regulatory inaction is repeating itself today.

• Just last week, more new research linked the use of artificial sweeteners to a faster rate of cognitive decline.

Consumers worldwide are the subjects, ingesting tons of sweeteners in thousands of products. The latest warning about brain damage may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Event details

📅 When: Monday, September 15, 7 pm EDT
💻 Where: Online (Zoom)
🔗 Register here with SWINY: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wCiXnaaqRO-RSVi8teIaqg

You can also submit a question to SWINY in advance here — I’ll be taking them directly during the conversation.

Hope to see some of you there.